“We toll nearly every single crossing between every borough in the five boroughs of New York City already, yet we’re giving over half a million folks a free ride,” said Move NY Director Alex Matthiessen. “It’s not fair to transit riders and certainly not fair to other drivers, who are paying through the nose in tolls.”

The electronic tolling plan, which would require no booths, would raise $1.5 billion in net revenue toward improving the state’s mass transit infrastructure, create 35,000 new jobs and restore bus service cut in 2010, Matthiessen said.

Motorists paying cash would be billed by mail, easing gridlock by dispersing traffic throughout the city, according to Matthiessen and Kendra Hems, president of the New York State Motor Truck Association.

But some Queens legislators balked at the idea.

“I am skeptical about tolling the free bridges because once the free bridges are tolled and the infrastructure is in place, we all know from experience that it would be very hard to reverse that,” said Assemblymember David Weprin.

Homeowners in Malba Gardens are feeling the toll of the $109 million project to widen the Whitestone Bridge.

“Our homes in Malba Gardens, we take great pride in them. We put a lot of money into these homes, and the last thing we want to see is our values decrease from this expansion,” said resident Antonio Melone. “That is my domain, and I will do everything to protect it. And every resident in Malba Gardens is willing to do the same. If it takes for us to protest on that bridge, we will do that.”

According to MTA Bridges and Tunnels, the project will provide wider 12-foot lanes on the bridge with new emergency breakdown lanes. Reconstruction efforts also promise a brand new playground and new location for Francis Lewis Park, which is expected to open by early May.

But while construction may mean brand new swings, a jungle gym and newly-planted trees for the neighborhood’s children, parents are saying the overall picture is far from perfect.

“The bridge is actually moving 18 feet closer to the homes,” Melone said. “We also lost a lot of trees that were 40, 50 years old. There are a lot of issues and concerns that we have about this.”

Resident Alfredo Centola said losing the trees has not helped alleviate the growingly-noticeable noise issues since the project’s groundbreaking. The construction, he fears, will also lead to increased traffic and pollution. “As of right now, it’s an inconvenience, and there is a negative impact with the noise,” Centola said. “We just want to make sure when the construction is over that they’ll build an eight-foot wall to mitigate the noise.”

Malba Gardens homeowners said there was talk earlier about building a barrier to block out racket from the bridge, but officials said they could not verify the possibility due to the project’s premature stage.

That’s unacceptable. We can’t wait until the end of the project to know,” Centola said. “They’re stringing us along.”

MTA Bridges and Tunnels officials said construction on the Queens end of the bridge began in the fall. Ongoing work will take place for over two more years.